It is with deep sadness that we learned of the passing of the Reverend Kao Chun-ming (高俊明) in Tainan on Thursday. He will be remembered as one of Taiwan’s leading lights in its early hours of darkness and a beacon in its transition to democracy.
The Reverend Kao was already a towering figure in the 1970s for his role in the three statements by the Presbyterian Church urging the repressive Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government to move toward freedom, democracy and independence: the “Statement on our National Fate” (1971), “Our Appeal” (1975) and, most famously, the “Declaration on Human Rights” (1977), in which the church urged the KMT government “to face reality and to take effective measures whereby Taiwan may become a new and independent country.”
The Reverend Kao again showed his courage after the now well-known Formosa Magazine incident in December 1979, when thousands of people took to the streets in Kaohsiung to urge the government to end martial law, which had been imposed 30 years earlier in 1949. The government responded by cracking down on the budding dangwai (黨外, “outside the party”) opposition movement and started to arrest all of its major leaders.
One of the Formosa Magazine leaders, Shih Ming-te (施明德), had initially been able to escape arrest, and the Reverend Kao agreed that the church should provide him shelter. This landed Reverend Kao and nine other Presbyterians in prison.
We first met the Reverend Kao and his courageous wife in November 1984 in Taipei, just a few months after he had been released. There had been much international pressure on the KMT regime, and finally then-president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) relented and ordered the release of the Reverend Kao and Lin I-hsiung (林義雄), whose mother and twin daughters were stabbed to death while he was in prison.
During our moving visit, the Reverend Kao recounted some of his prison experiences, but he also told us how he had been able to provide comfort and solace to others in prison. The visit cemented a friendship for life.
We kept in touch over the years, but the next major event was the December 2003 reunion of international human rights and church workers organized by the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy. The Reverend Kao gave a moving account of the church’s role in Taiwan’s transition to democracy.
He spoke at the Tainan Theological College and Seminary with his interpreter. We had Japanese, Americans and Europeans in the group, so the Reverend Kao spoke Japanese and the interpreter needed to do only one translation: into English.
We met the Reverend Kao for the last time just two years ago, in Tainan in March 2017, when we were doing research at National Cheng Kung University. We visited him and his wife at their home for a simple meal. Although he was getting weak and frail, he was still full of spirit, talking about how we could advance Taiwan and its future in the international community.
We will fondly remember the Reverend Kao for his warmth, his vision, his courage and his great contributions to Taiwan’s transition to democracy. He was an inspiration to all of us.
Gerrit van der Wees is a former Dutch diplomat. He and his wife, Chen Mei-chin, published Taiwan Communique, which chronicled Taiwan’s transition to democracy.
US president-elect Donald Trump continues to make nominations for his Cabinet and US agencies, with most of his picks being staunchly against Beijing. For US ambassador to China, Trump has tapped former US senator David Perdue. This appointment makes it crystal clear that Trump has no intention of letting China continue to steal from the US while infiltrating it in a surreptitious quasi-war, harming world peace and stability. Originally earning a name for himself in the business world, Perdue made his start with Chinese supply chains as a manager for several US firms. He later served as the CEO of Reebok and
US$18.278 billion is a simple dollar figure; one that’s illustrative of the first Trump administration’s defense commitment to Taiwan. But what does Donald Trump care for money? During President Trump’s first term, the US defense department approved gross sales of “defense articles and services” to Taiwan of over US$18 billion. In September, the US-Taiwan Business Council compared Trump’s figure to the other four presidential administrations since 1993: President Clinton approved a total of US$8.702 billion from 1993 through 2000. President George W. Bush approved US$15.614 billion in eight years. This total would have been significantly greater had Taiwan’s Kuomintang-controlled Legislative Yuan been cooperative. During
US president-elect Donald Trump in an interview with NBC News on Monday said he would “never say” if the US is committed to defending Taiwan against China. Trump said he would “prefer” that China does not attempt to invade Taiwan, and that he has a “very good relationship” with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Before committing US troops to defending Taiwan he would “have to negotiate things,” he said. This is a departure from the stance of incumbent US President Joe Biden, who on several occasions expressed resolutely that he would commit US troops in the event of a conflict in
Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) in recent days was the focus of the media due to his role in arranging a Chinese “student” group to visit Taiwan. While his team defends the visit as friendly, civilized and apolitical, the general impression is that it was a political stunt orchestrated as part of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) propaganda, as its members were mainly young communists or university graduates who speak of a future of a unified country. While Ma lived in Taiwan almost his entire life — except during his early childhood in Hong Kong and student years in the US —
RSS